Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Six: (Real) Exposed

Recently, Nan Wei had gotten caught up in something extremely troublesome.

It was neither too major nor too insignificant, just a little too ridiculous.

If he had to tell the story, it would have something to do with Yan Jin’s accident.

The night that Yan Jin got into an accident, the entire S City was in an uproar. Aside from the normal citizens, anyone who had some connections with the influential families all felt that a vicious storm was approaching.

Nan Wei was not particularly bothered about that. After he had found out about both victims of the accident, his first reaction was ‘what the hell is cousin up to?’. However, that was not what the other Nan family members had thought. A wide range of influential families across the country – more than half of them had begun to make their move after assuming that Yan Jin was probably dead or would be bed-ridden for the rest of his life.

And hence, they were all caught off-guard.

After all, they would never have expected that in this major car accident that even ended with one of the cars and drivers falling off the bridge and crashing into the water, that Yan Jin would wake up after a mere hour.

Thus, the storm arrived.

From a certain perspective, Nan Wei, who knew nothing about the business competitions, made the smartest decision, namely, to side with Yan Jin unconditionally with an unwavering heart.

Thanks to Nan Wei, the Nan family did not suffer too much from the wipe out. However, instead of remembering Nan Wei’s contribution, the Nan family bit the hand that fed them and started calling him endlessly to return to their family.

Not for the sake of taking over NN, but to get married.

Nan Wei was only twenty-two this year. He had just graduated from university two years ago; he was not too old and at least not to the extent where he should be forced into marriage.

All in all, it was Yan Jin’s fault.

None of them had expected Yan Jin to make such a big move on them. He had annexed at least ten smaller and middle-class families in one night. Even a family like theirs felt anxious and frightened. To protect themselves, they wanted to find some reliable external families no matter what. And among all the male descendants who had reached adulthood, Nan Wei was the only one left who was also easy to control.

As a slacker who lived his life aimlessly, Nan Wei was undoubtedly in a mess because of Yan Jin.

What happened next was very reasonable, as Nan Wei who had enough of his family’s harassment went to complain to his best buddy about it.

Then, his best buddy, his childhood sweetheart whom he knew since he was three years old, a brother who was so close to him that sharing the same pants was not an issue… confessed to him.

Confessed.

Nan Wei felt like it was a bolt from the blue.

Instead of responding, after confirming several times that it was not April Fools Day, that his childhood sweetheart was not making a joke –

He ran away.

Yes, it was those ‘give me some time to think’ and ‘body responding very honestly to flee using any path he could find, running at full speed without turning back’ kind of run away.

It felt better when he ran away; however, the things that followed right after it became troublesome.

Nan Wei’s way of handling this indescribable confession was to refuse to face reality. To put it plainly, he did not want to interact with the other party at all, much less talk about it together. He did not even want to send any messages to him, hoping that they could simply part ways from there on. However, even if Nan Wei did not switch on any of his social media account,refused to reply to any of his messages, and purposely found a secluded and average-looking hotel to stay… he was still found by his childhood sweetheart after three days.

That was because the latter was a top dog hacker.

Nan Wei could find ways to hide far away, but with modern technology, it was impossible to not surf Internet. In addition, he had an online business. Running away from home under such chaotic circumstances, he did not even bring along any credit card with him and had to pay with his Alipay account for the accommodation.

After he was found, he would come up with some excuse and find another chance to escape again.

After playing guerrilla warfare for a month, he was tired both physically and mentally. On top of that, he had to deal with his family coercing him into marriage. Nan Wei felt like he was about to have a mental breakdown.

When Nan Wei was found by his childhood sweetheart once again, he excused himself to take a smoke break outside and made a call to his cousin.

……

“That’s what happened, so, can you take me in for a few days?” Nan Wei clasped his hands as if in a prayer.

After hearing to the whole story, Yan Jin let out a soft laughter that was hard to understand. “Sure. I’m going overseas two days later to lie low until the fuss dies down. I’ll give you the key to the villa. Except for the third level, you can use the villa whichever way you like.”

“Thank you so much cousin. I’ll just stay in the guest room where I used to stay previously. I won’t go elsewhere.” Nan Wei was simply too tired out by his childhood sweetheart from the past few days. He thought for a short moment before he asked: “Cousin, how’s your data security here? That son of a bitch is simply too…”

“Relax. It’s definitely safe. Liu Ye’s radar would never reach.”

Seeing how Nan Wei instantly relaxed, Yan Jin hesitated for a moment, but decided not to tell him that there was an ‘absolute danger’ in that ‘definitely safe’ environment.

That fellow was not stupid. The moment he realized that Nan Wei’s phone tracking had been cut off, he would surely think of the possibility that Nan Wei was hiding at his place. Moreover, the anti-tracking system in this villa was written by that person himself. Breaking the code could be done by him at the snap of his fingers.

Nan Wei, who finally felt relieved, slouched back into the couch. After a long while, his gaze finally landed on the gauze on Yan Jin’s forehead.

“Cousin, how did you manipulate this accident?” Nan Wei straightened his back with an expression of great.

Yan Jin thought that Nan Wei was going to ask about his injury, and his ‘it’s not a big deal’ got stuck in his throat.

He swallowed that answer he had prepared as he heard what younger man had asked.

Thankfully, Nan Wei did not make things difficult for him as he continued asking: “My master didn’t even login to his QQ for the past few days. What are you doing exactly?”

“Your master? Who’s your master?” Yan Jin who thought of himself as a person who had exceptional communication ability blessed by heaven, suddenly found himself unable to grasp what Nan Wei was trying to say.

“Who else could it be? Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both of course. SI’s FISH?” Nan Wei frowned as he continued, “Speaking of which, cousin, I didn’t expose you since you wanted to play mysterious, but this is getting too much. Can’t you give me some updates? What it all boils down to is that you are responsible for half of reason of why I’m in this state right now.”

Yan Jin was confused.

He went silent for a minute and returned the question with an unsure tone: “You’re saying Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both is your master?

“Yup. That drawing for the gaming company was drawn by yours truly. I finished the third batch of final drafts when my master suddenly disappeared. Now that I’m here, I’ll pass you the drafts then.”

For the past twenty-nine years of his life, for as far as his memory reached, this moment was undoubtedly the most confusing moment of his life.

And for the past twenty-nine years, even with that valiant mind that could easily penetrate someone else’s thoughts, he had never experienced such confusion.

Moments later, Yan Jin took out a bottle of tomato juice from his refrigerator and poured two cups of it before he sat back onto the couch.

“Tell me in detail.”

“Tell what?”

“From the beginning, everything.”

“… I could say it, but at least bring out a bottle of liquor. Drinking tomato juice while talking about this? I’m not a kid…”

Yan Jin who was drinking his cup of juice shot a glance at Nan Wei and successfully ended his muttering. The younger man sat upright as he said: “It’s actually like this…”

To tell the entire story from the beginning was quite taxing. Even when Nan Wei had skipped many details, especially with an imagination such as his, just talking about the contents of their work, he ended up using two hours to explain it.

Right up until Nan Wei stopped because his throat was all dried up, as he picked up the cup of tomato juice and finished it with one gulp, Yan Jin had never interrupted at all.

As much as Nan Wei’s wild imagination was ridiculous to him, Yan Jin could not hide the huge shock he experienced as a result of those ridiculous thoughts.

“Which is why I’m asking what exactly happened? Aren’t things going great before this? Why did you end up crashing into one another?” Even if Nan Wei was insensitive towards conspiracy theories, he could tell that something was amiss about this accident.

He did plan to ask Yan Jin personally at the beginning, but how would he know that he could not even save himself with the series of things that happened. Plus, Yan Jin was like demon, attacking everyone indiscriminately making it hard for anyone to approach him.That was why it dragged on for that long.

“Stay here. I need to head out for a while.” Yan Jin suddenly got up from his couch.

“Huh, where are you going?”

Yan Jin turned back and gave Nan Wei a look full of pity. Then, he turned away as if he could not bear to look anymore and said nonchalantly, “To my friend’s place.”

……

“Help me check on someone.”

Yan Jin leaned on the wall as he lit his cigarette.

That small and cramped room was filled with all sorts of computers, high-end equipment, and one chair. Even a person like Yan Jin could not find a place to position himself in.

And that was why Yan Jin would never come knocking on this door under normal circumstances.

“Nan Wei is at your place?” Liu Ye did not even look back as he stared intently at the monitor in front of him.

“More haste, less speed. You’re too impatient.” Yan Jin teased. “Then again, that net of yours had been laid out for too long. The fish will run away if you don’t reel it in soon.”

“It’s better than how you reeled in before you even laid a proper net.” The topic immediately sparked the anger in Liu Ye. “Do you have any idea how much extra work you created for me?”

“Using your busy job to escape your relationship problems. You should thank me instead.” Yan Jin argued.

Liu Ye rolled his eyes, too lazy to argue with Yan Jin.

“Checking on?”

“SI’s former chief designer, FISH. I think his real name is Xiao Yu.”

Liu Ye pulled out a folder from his side and threw it towards Yan Jin. “You should have come earlier.”

“You’ve checked for me already? Because of the car crash?” Yan Jin took the folder and replied doubtfully, “Are you a person that takes initiative?”

“Car crash? Isn’t that one of your tricks?” Liu Ye turned around with a taunting look. “Pulling out such a magnificent act and trying to act innocent with me?”

Yan Jin gasped. “So you also know that Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both is SI’s former chief designer?”

“You don’t say.” Liu Ye insulted. “Otherwise how could I agree to let Nan Wei to be a substitute for some unknown person.”

“I have nothing to say.” Yan Jin bluntly admitted defeat.

“But there’s something wrong in your guess. I don’t have any romantic relationship with Xiao Yu. We have never lived together, and I’ve barely met him a few times,” Yan Jin said as he flipped through the folder.

This time, it was Liu Ye’s turn to gasp.

“I can understand the first part of your explanation. I have told Nan Wei many times that you would never expose your sexual orientation so openly. But, as for the other half of your sentence…”

Liu Ye put down his mouse and keyboard as he kicked his feet to turn himself around in the chair. He asked interestedly. “This is coming from a top-class hacker,”

Yan Jin nodded his head, full of interest as well, gesturing for the man to carry on.

“If what you say is true, then how did he use Chu Ge’s iPad to create this QQ account in your villa?”